Pictures of random things, and some updates.

Ok, well since my last couple of rants things have turned around here on beautiful 13th street. Our contractor Jon has been over every day and is pretty much on top of things right now. The electrical is ready for the city inspection tomorrow, and things are looking good to have the drywall up after my return from Indianapolis next week.

Because some people like the random shots of rough in work, here is one of the electrical in the bathroom and a little diagram of how the plumbing is going. First the wires...

The plumbing hasn't gone far in the past few days. The guys were supposed to be here on Thurs/Friday to finish the returns, and to start on the supply (the copper is here at least). Well they were a no-show both days which even had our contractor saying "what in the hell are we doing with this guys?". I feel the same way. There is a slight chance that the plumbing will be done when I return from Indy next Sunday, but I'm not a fish so I'll pass on holding my breath.

What is done I have taken some pictures of and made handy labels...because I'm bored. Here is the view of the return plumbing as it looks from the ceiling of the second floor office. The entire thing snakes around and then goes out of the wall to out stack which is outside of the house. Our place is old. Anyway....


This week we had some friends in town and they were great sports. Our house is filthy, smells very odd at times, and is HOT. It's been 90+ degrees here all week with about 75% humidity. Philly is apparently a swamp, but Christina and I don't seem to notice it anymore.

Anyway, I cleared out a landing zone for the Susan and Steve Tuesday night in our second floor front bedroom. It had been a storage room and where I threw random power tools, but after a little real life Tetris and some trips to the basement the room looked something like the picture on the right.

The last picture for this hot-as-hell Sunday is one for my mom. The cats are getting too used to utter chaos around them at all hours, which is evident when Bing is Ok with playing in the tub...in the living room...precariously on it's side. Eh, at least he found his Binky I guess. That on it's own is hard to do sometimes in this place. I couldn't get a picture without Bing looking like some demon, but it's fitting in various ways.

The first 'punch' list: the anti-DIY part 2

In keeping with my theme from yesterday, I have attached the first punch list my wife has created.

(On a side note: I've asked her a couple of times why it's called a 'punch list' instead of something like 'Stuff to get right' list, or 'We are paying for this?' list. Never got a straight answer on this one. I think it's because you feel like punching something quite often).

Anyway here's the list right now. Again, I'll say that Christina (more so that myself) is very accurate and exact in what she wants done. While that's a great mentality for all of this, it creates a list like:
According to Wikipedia (because it's always 100% accurate):
The phrase takes its name from the historical process of punching a hole in the margin of the document, next to one of the items on the list. This indicated that the work was completed for that particular construction task. Two copies of the list were punched at the same time to provide an identical record for the architect and contractor.

The stark reality of NOT doing it yourself

It's Bryan. So, in the past 2 weeks we've had the framing in the bathroom start, the electrical get roughed in, and as of yesterday most of the return plumbing installed. And it's about 65% correct. that means that for the most part Christina and I walk in the door now, not excited to see what's new, but rather expecting something to be incorrect.

Now, a little history here. In my day job I coordinate various software development endeavors between what my bosses think they want, and the developers that will be grinding the code. It's usually a dance, but my job is to make sure that when the developers start work...they have every possible piece of info to make the application close to 100% as requested, (virtually) bug free, and on time. So I take the requirements from the business units, translate them to 'tech speak' and lay out the technical architecture for everyone to look at and understand that the knee bone is going to be connected to the thigh bone, and it's going to use REST web services and the like.

I'm basically a contractor...only a nerdy one.

Now, what I don't understand about the shenanigans we are seeing, is that there is no communication (or very little) going on between all of the parties involved. The contractor walks the plumber and electrician through the house, and even with my wife (an architect) there to explain the plans. Great! But the funny thing is that when the plumbers showed up on Friday to start, they weren't the same guy(s) that had toured the house. They had been 'briefed' on the project, and had 'an idea' on what is going on.

Come again? You mean that for our third floor OASIS that we've been planning and saving to do for years...you have an 'idea' about where the entire BATHROOM is going to be? It's the general passing the orders down the ranks, and somewhere in there I'm watching and wearing my life jacket...because I know this ship might sink. Quickly.

The electricians have run almost an entire wall of lines (carved into the brick party wall) that are...oh...about 5 feet too low. There are switches where a pocket door will slam into them upon closing. I know what you might be saying..."details, details". Well that's me. The devil is in the details all right.

Let me be very clear here: Our contractor is great. Seriously, he's been great, and pretty much available at all times when we freak out and call him. I know he trusts his subs, and that's one of the reasons that we went with him. The problem might be that my mother thinks I'm type-A, and I would argue that my mother-in-law says the same about my wife. I mean our jobs for years have been to herd cats day in and day out, to prepare for the best and worst and to make s@#t happen. I feel handcuffed.

I can't frame a bathroom, knock a hole in a wall for a new window, or lay tile everywhere. I know that. But I think my mind says "you know Bryan...it's not that hard to do...plus you can control every last detail". My mind is a dangerous place to be in right now.

Anyway, we're really hoping that some of the plumbing things are fixed today (I won't get into the stack connection right now...that'll be tonight probably), and the electricians are coming back tomorrow I think.

In the mean time we have friends in town this weekend, and I guess they'll be sleeping on an air mattress in the living room. Sorry Susan and Steve, you’ve entered the Danger Zone. Time to listen to the Top Gun soundtrack and get pumped for plumbing!

Let There Be Light!

Well, almost.....last week was a bit slow as our contractor decided he needed to go see wild horses in Delaware for his family vacation. Who gets a vacation?

Anyway, the electricians came on Thursday and started to layout some of the recessed lighting, and switch locations to actually get electricity back into the 3rd floor. There are still a few more things to add, and a few things that did not land in quite the right spot, but those should get fixed next week. The plumbers also came on Friday and started to mark the ceiling on the 2nd floor for the plumbing runs, and the one line out to the existing stack on the OUTSIDE of the house.

Yes, one of the exciting things about a house built without plumbing or electricity, was the exhaust stack is on the exterior of the house. The old knob and tube wiring is also amazing to find. It is quite scary really to realize that a small ceramic tube was part of the power for an air conditioning unit......so far only a couple minor electrical fires, but that is why we are renovating, right?

The other great accomplishment of the weekend is the tub is almost done. I think Bryan is refinishing the tub for me to earn brownie points for the rest of the Baseball season (meaning he can watch some games at the corner bar). I think his plan is to get the tub set up so I can soak in the tub while he watches the never ending, constant all the time Phillies games......in the end it will probably work out for him!

Shopping

So now that there is magical progress everyday, it is time for me to quit changing my mind and actually order all the fixtures, new mirror, and Bryan's toilet! There were 2 requests he made for this whole remodel, first that the shower have an "old time" feel with an exposed connection from the handles to the faucet, and second that the toilet have a dual flush button on the top, not a lever.

The picture above is the toilet we have ordered, and you can see the sink (just the sink, not the storage or faucet) as well.

We have all the pieces on the way and they should start arriving this week to Bryan's office. I think that he is going to have to bribe the guys in his mail room, since these boxes are not going to be small!

Day Three

For once, it's me...Bryan. So I have been telling people, 'Yeah, I mean I'm sure we'll take pictures everyday, but really I'm sure we'll just update weekly'. Right. So it seems that Christina and I enjoy racing home after work and running up stairs to see what has happened during our torment at our respective offices. This has lead to Christina's blog addiction becoming ever so fun to watch.

Anyway, today the fellas tweaked some things that we found last night and framed the closet. This new closet will make THREE for the entire house. The guys also framed in all of our built in storage spaces, but that's too much fun to show.

Also, Christina wants to show off the edge that makes the bathroom (tub) open to the stairs. In time that will be a wall of some sort, but I haven't been told yet, so I don't need to know at this point.


Also in the post are just a few elevation drawings for the contractor and because I don't understand 'archi-speak' and need pretty pictures. I poo-pooed posting then entire drawing set, because I know EVERYONE is going to STEAL our ideas. You're all sneaky. For all you architects out there if you are curious about the plans, let us know and we can email them. There are also some 3D renderings that will probably make their way onto the blog when there aren't as many fun new pictures to post! (Ed: That was the boss, not me)

And They Returned!

So they came back, even with the heat! This picture shows the new framing for the bathroom, the shower is the square in the middle. I think they plan to get the framing done this week, and the electrical and plumbing done next week. The new windows should show up the end of next week as well. The other picture starts to show the slope of the ceiling with the new joists. It is absolutely amazing to have stuff magically get done while we are at work!

Day One

So I realize the picture isn't terribly exciting, but it was the first days progress, and it needed to be celebrated! This just shows the small area where there is new sub-floor for the bathroom, and a pile of tools in the corner. I should also mention that without any power on the 3rd floor, and record heat temperatures, I think the actual temp was 99 today, I was surprised they showed up at all. We did have a few extra Gatorade bottles throughout the house....but check back often now that we aren't the only ones doing the work!

Blog revamping

So we're currently in the process of sprucing up the blog. I (Bryan) have added a handy little project progress thing purely for personal motivation reasons. The carrot and stick don't mean much if you can't see the finish line through the lead paint dust. In the coming days I would like to add some other blog sections that will be used for some general non house related entries. I guess that's it.

If you (our dear friends and family) would like something specific on the blog just drop us an email.

Cheers!
Bryan

Stoop Fun

So we have been doing small projects lately. This one was a bit of procrastination from tub scraping, but an improvement none the less! I had found some numbers I loved at Design Within Reach a couple of years ago, but like most of their products, at $65 a number always thought against it. So we found these copies at a much better price. These are a great improvement to the original ones you can see in the first picture stuck on above the door (like the duct tape and vegetable can as a pipe stopper, the previous owners always seemed to use anything with adhesives) Any good weekend project isn't complete on its own and this one has now spawned 2 or 3 additional projects. First painting the door and frame now that the unsightly numbers left a mark on the white aluminum, adding a light outside the door that we have wanted for awhile, and finally the foxglove addition to the front. 2 down 2 to go!

The last picture is a view down the street and that is our little "Charlie Brown Tree" in the foreground. Bryan makes fun of its sprout at the top. I admit it does grow in a strange way, but it is now almost up to the 3rd floor and just starting to fill in a little for shade in living room.